The news: Healthcare AI startup OpenEvidence is aiming to raise $250 million in equity funding—amping its valuation to $12 billion, which has doubled from just two months ago, per The Information.

• The medical search engine earns revenues from pharma and medical device companies via advertising that appears alongside relevant content.
• OpenEvidence brings in about $150 million annually in ad revenues, per The Information.

Catch up quick: In June, OpenEvidence struck a deal with the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) JAMA Network to access content from the AMA’s 13 medical journals, furthering its positioning as a ChatGPT for doctors. It struck a similar content deal with The New England Journal of Medicine, and also counts Mayo Clinic and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) as partners.

Why it matters: To overcome physician skepticism of AI-generated healthcare information, OpenEvidence surfaces insights exclusively from credible medical journals.

• More than half (53%) of physicians are using AI, but some skepticism remains especially around AI use for clinical decisions and treatment plans.
• 45% of doctors say they’re open to pharma messages in AI summaries or alerts, with 14% very open and 31% somewhat open, per a DHC Group and Sermo survey this month.
• Doctors who use generative AI in medical decision making are perceived as less capable by their peers, according to a Johns Hopkins University study published in August.
• 83% of doctors say they consider AI information that differs from their own assessment, but ultimately rely on their own judgement, per another DHC survey in Q2 2025.

Implications for pharma marketers: The dramatic rise in OpenEvidence’s valuation validates the need for evidence-based AI. Since healthcare professionals already trust peer-reviewed content, platforms that build their insights solely on these sources are setting the new standard for influential clinical discovery channels.

Pharma marketers should expect AI-driven clinical search to become a standard way to reach healthcare providers. As these tools evolve, messaging based strictly on clinical proof and data will be non-negotiable, and marketers must be prepared for increased scrutiny over how branded content appears in AI-supported workflows.

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